Criminal Minds star Paget Brewster reveals the potential Paramount+ revival is looking to bring back the main cast from the final four seasons of the show. Ever since its premiere in 2005, Criminal Minds was a staple of CBS' drama lineup. The series followed the members of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, profilers who use psychology to dive into the minds of the worst criminals the world has to offer. Criminal Minds ran for a grand total of 15 seasons before coming to an end last year.
However, these days the end of a TV show rarely means they're gone forever, and that even applies to Criminal Minds. In February, news broke a Criminal Minds revival is in the works at Paramount+. Erica Messer, who served as showrunner for much of the series' run, will return for the revival. At the time of the initial announcement, it was said Paramount+ was looking to bring back some of the original cast members. Later, during Viacom's investor presentation, it was revealed the new Criminal Minds, should it get ordered to series, will focus on one case over the course of an entire season.
While speaking to ComicBook.com about her new animated series Birdgirl, Brewster touched upon where the Criminal Minds revival is in terms of development. Brewster, who played Emily Prentiss from season 2 onward, shared the cast members from seasons 12 through 15 were approached for the new series, which they were grateful for. Currently, they are still trying to make the specifics work, but Brewster said they are all hopeful:
"We're very thankful that they came to everyone who was in the cast for the last four seasons -- they came to all of us and said, 'would you all come back?' And every one of us who can, who isn't already signed on to another show, we've been negotiating this. We're all hoping that it would happen and that we would be on Paramount+ as a streaming show, which would be a very different platform from what we had as a CBS show on network TV. We're doing our darnedest, and everyone's trying to make this happen. We really enjoy each other, and we really enjoy how much our fans like the show. Now we have all these new fans, who have been binging it on Netflix, in a different age group. When people used to say to me, 'You're on that show Criminal Minds,' I'd say 'yeah, your grandma watches it.' Now it's a whole new generation and we have teenagers watching. It's crazy."
Over the course of its run, Criminal Minds endured numerous cast changes. The final four seasons starred Brewster, Matthew Gray Gubler, AJ Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, Daniel Henney, and Joe Mantenga. Seeing as the series ended with the entire team intact (save for Vangsness' Penelope Garcia, who left the FBI for a new job), it would make sense to bring back those same characters for the revival. Right now, it sounds like the cast partially depends on the schedules of each star. At the same time, fans will likely hope to see some familiar faces pop up, such as Shemar Moore's Derek Morgan, though he currently stars on CBS' SWAT and might be unavailable.
As Brewster said, the Criminal Minds revival is still in the negotiating stages, so nothing is set in stone just yet. However, it does seem like Paramount+ is very interested in bringing the series back, especially since it's a very strong performer on streaming. Criminal Minds regularly ranks among the top shows in Nielsen's weekly rankings, indicating there's still passion for the BAU agents. Brewster and the others are eager to return, and only time will tell if they actually can.
Source: ComicBook.com